3 Not Guilty of Assault at Party : Law enforcement: Jurors did not believe deputies were attacked or had cause to storm bridal shower.

Three men in a controversial case that prompted outcries of civil rights violations from the Southland’s Samoan community were acquitted Friday on charges that they rioted and assaulted Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who stormed a Cerritos bridal shower clad in riot gear.

Jurors who spent the past six weeks hearing the case in Norwalk Superior Court said a home videotape showing deputies clubbing people on the ground had little or nothing to do with their verdict.

Rather, the jurors said, they voted for acquittal because they did not believe the deputies who descended on the home of Arthur Dole the night of Feb. 11, 1989, had any justification for being there. They also did not believe that the deputies had been assaulted, the jurors said.

“Most of us felt that they had no right to disperse the party,” said juror Stephen Pollard, an economics professor at Cal State Los Angeles. Pollard said that if anything was thrown at deputies that night, he believes it was thrown in self-defense or in defense of someone else.

“I don’t think there would have been a confrontation if the police had kept their cool,” said juror Joseph J. Caraco, a Lakewood electrician. The deputies, he said, “overreacted.”

A supervisor from the district attorney’s office, who was present when the verdict was announced, said he would have no comment on the jurors’ decision.

The videotape taken by a neighbor was a central part of the defense’s contention that the incident was an example of police brutality against the Samoan family, much as in the case of Rodney G. King, the black motorist whose beating by Los Angeles Police was videotaped.

But jurors said the much-publicized King incident had no bearing on their decision.

“Rodney King didn’t even enter into our minds,” Caraco said.

“Rodney King wasn’t even an issue,” said a woman juror who asked not to be identified.

The defense contended that the three men were charged with a crime because deputies are taught that when they injure someone they must charge him or her with a crime to defend themselves against brutality charges. One former deputy acknowledged on the witness stand that he indeed learned that early in his law enforcement career.

According to the deputies, they were called to the scene by neighbors who complained about loud music, rioting, and fighting with sticks and knives. The deputies said that the party-goers refused to disperse and that when deputies moved to enter the house, they were met with a barrage of rocks and bottles.

Those acquitted were David Dole, son of the host; Sale Paopao, 21, a student at El Camino College; and John Talamaivao, 27, a loading dock worker at a trucking firm. Most of the 40 guests at the bridal party were relatives of the Dole family or their daughter Melinda’s fiance.

“We’ve been living this thing for two years,” a tearful David Dole said after the verdict. “Now our family can rest because this cloud has been blown over us,” he said.

Samoans throughout the Southland rallied to the family’s defense after the incident. The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation and most of the party guests are part of a multimillion damage suit against the county.

Juror Ronald Balen of La Mirada said the credibility of the deputies, 15 of whom took the witness stand to testify, was the central issue in the case. “I don’t know if it was lies but a lot of what we heard we believed was false information,” Balen said.

David Dole said he believes the testimony of his neighbors determined the outcome of the case. Several neighbors testified that the party was not out of hand and that the family had complied with a request to turn down the music hours before deputies showed up in riot gear.

Members of the Dole family said at the time of the incident that their guests were willing to disperse but became frightened by the array of officers in the street outside.

David Dole called the sheriff’s emergency line asking that someone come to the scene to calm deputies who he said were lining up outside and seemed out of control. Telephone records were shown to the jury as evidence that the call had been made.

One neighbor, who has since died, started videotaping shortly after deputies stormed the house and took the guests outside, handcuffing them and making them lie down on the ground.

Garo Mardirossian, one of three defense attorneys, said the verdict shows the deputies behaved like “a bunch of thugs going out to beat on innocent people.”

The verdict, Mardirossian added, is a “message” to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, “that the jury has spoken and these people did not riot, they did not throw bottles or rocks at the deputies. (Reiner) should drop the charges against the remaining four defendants.”

Three Dole daughters are set to go on trial the end of the month on misdemeanor charges of rioting. One male party-goer has yet to be tried on assault charges.

A supervisor in the district attorney’s office said he would not comment on the status of the remaining charges.